I have around 50 active projects, ... if I make a bunch of phone calls, they might relate to 5 different projects. Am I then "working on 5 projects"? You could state it that way. I don't have a problem with that. I'm a consultant, and I have a multitude of projects going on, at different client sites. But then again, I also know someone that gets stressed as soon as more than 2 different projects land on his desk and he needs to work on them both. He can really only work in a serial type of way. Starting one project, finishing it, and then move to the next.

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Other any guidelines that I could use to let me know how many projects I should be working on at one time.

Hi, Dan!

Well, what guidelines are you already using?

You can have a hundred projects on your Projects List but that doesn't mean you have to put a next action for each one on your Next Action List if you don't want to work on them just yet, right?

One of the biggest benefits of the Weekly Review, for me, is being able to reevaluate my projects and choose which ones I want to advance in the coming week.

So I have about 300 projects, but most of them are on my Someday/Maybe lists. As I review, I might pull a handful onto my active Project List, and likewise I might move some active projects off to Someday/Maybe.

It's a fluid process, and you'll develop your own guidelines along the way, I'll bet.

Other any guidelines that I could use to let me know how many projects I should be working on at one time.

Trick question. No matter how many projects I have active in any given time I am still only ever working on one at a time. I do a next action related to single project and then do another one. So one project at a time but serially.

What I think you are really asking is how many active projects is reasonable.

From discussions here I can tell you I am on the upper end of most folks. Right now as of tonight I have 171 current active projects who have next actions in my lists. I have a further 68 projects waiting for a start date to arrive before they become active. My someday maybe list of projects is close to 600.

I keep active any projects that I think I can possibly work on during this season which is abut 3 months. I'm far more comfortable with a large set of possible actions from which to choose.

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Other any guidelines that I could use to let me know how many projects I should be working on at one time.

Easy! One at a time. No multitasking, please!

At any given second of your life you are working on one project only - everything else is safely parked in your trusted GTD system. David Allen often refers to a kung-fu street fighting - deal with one enemy at a time!

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At any given second of your life you are working on one project only - everything else is safely parked in your trusted GTD system. David Allen often refers to a kung-fu street fighting - deal with one enemy at a time!

Not entirely true- it's possible to do a next action which is part of two or more projects. For example I might make mushroom soup (next action) because I want to use up some leftover mushrooms in the fridge (project 1) and try out a new recipe for mushroom soup (project 2).

Not entirely true- it's possible to do a next action which is part of two or more projects. For example I might make mushroom soup (next action) because I want to use up some leftover mushrooms in the fridge (project 1) and try out a new recipe for mushroom soup (project 2).

Right. Another example: often my actions for the purpose of exercise also involve another purpose:
having fun, transportation, connecting with other people etc.

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Not entirely true- it's possible to do a next action which is part of two or more projects. For example I might make mushroom soup (next action) because I want to use up some leftover mushrooms in the fridge (project 1) and try out a new recipe for mushroom soup (project 2).

At any given second of your life you are working on one project only - everything else is safely parked in your trusted GTD system. David Allen often refers to a kung-fu street fighting - deal with one enemy at a time!